Pike advice for a total newb?

[maghunter]

1st post, yay!
Quick background...I grew up in southeast Idaho and spent many summers growing up creek fishing the teton river and the creeks that run through Victor and Driggs Idaho. All we ever used was worms and I did do some fly fishing as well. We caught a lot of fish, all trout. I have never fished in a lake until this summer.

I moved to the Spokane area a little over two years ago and have spent the last two summers enjoying many of the lakes' beaches with my kids and trying out different places to freedive (one of my part-time passions, for which I'm always looking for others to go with ;-).

Anyway, this summer me and my new bride have been trying to figure out how to fish...and have specifically decided we want to learn how to fish for and catch pike. I have been doing a lot of research online learning about gear, tackle and lures and what not, but so far we are still such newbies it's almost embarrassing. LOL

So, my question is...would anyone be willing to help two enthusiastic newbies? Is it even possible to catch pike without a boat just fishing from the shore? I think we have decent gear, probably poor technique and definitely lack on location and strategies.

Thanks

[Mark K]

You can't fail with a spoon or a spinnerbait. Toss along weed edges, over the tops of weeds, through gaps in weeds, downed trees, etc. There are plenty of places to fish from shore. Cougar Bay, Wolf Lodge Bay, and other areas of the main lake and chain lakes have access from the road. A boat would obviously much more preferable though. Good luck, and Post pics.

[Lucius]

Don't forget to try the chain lakes or even the sportsmans access at Hayden. Like Mark K said you can't go wrong with spoons or spinnerbaits!!! With the summer temps trying early in the morning or later in the evening could help you chances. Remember they are primarily fast ambush predators, so any structure where they can use a surprise attack or speed an attack, there's a possibility that one is lying there. Top water lures are always exciting too!!!

Keep us posted of your results.

[Fish-N-Fool]

If you are really serious about catching pike the first thing I would do is get a cheap boat. As your very limited in the number of places you can pike off the bank, so I'd make getting a boat a priority. It needs to have a gas and an electric motor of some kind. It doesn't have to be big or fancy. Just something safe that floats. The key to Pike fishing is fishing the right water at the correct time of year. You will find Pike very shallow in the Early spring but it you fish that same spot 3 months later you would fish zero fish there. So learning the habits of the fish will go a long ways to helping you put fish in the boat. I fish for pike out of my boat 12 months out of the year and catch them. So there is no time you can't catch pike. I never deadbait as I'm all about catch and release and deadbaiting kills to many fish for me. Plus I have good success on lures even in the dead of winter. Please come join my facebook group the "Inland N.W. Sport Fishing Club". Lots of great pike anglers there and friendly people. It is open to all anglers in the Eastern Wash., N. Idaho, and W. Mont. It is a group that promotes CPR of all Game fish, with a few exceptions made for walleye, panfish and stocker trout.